of the judges on "britain's got talent." i sit between piers morganandsimoncowell. anextraordinary place to be. on american television piers is seen weekly as a talent judge but in england he's also known as a veteran journalist who's covered news all over the world. i sat down with piers for a personal conversation and he told me how he approached cnn and then campaigned to replace the king of talk. >> welcome to cnn. >> thank you very much. it's a great honor -- >> reporter: with that hand shake larry king ended an era and handed over the reins of his 25-year-old show to british journalist piers morgan. >> with that chapter closing i'm looking forward to the future. what my next chapter will bring. but for now, for here, it's time to hang up the nightly suspenders. >> reporter: it was a storied career that included some 40,000 interviews, king's been the man everyone's opened up to. >> who gave you this ring? >> richard. >> reporter: a frenz request of speculation erupted as to who would replace the legend, from ryan seacrest to joy behar. the name as a frontrunner was actually the bri